Oy vey, what a mess it must be to be a gay Russian. First Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov bans Moscow pride, calls gay people “satanists” and sparks a court battle that’s headed all the way to the EU Human Rights Court. Then President Vladimir Putin says he supports gays, although does raise the “joke” of their affect on birth rates. A few days later, the government backs gays by saying they have the right to free assembly.

That alone’s enough to send someone over the edge screaming, but now comes news that conservative politician Nikolay Kuryanovich is looking to recriminalize homosexuality, something that hasn’t been done since 1993. UK Gay reports:

The new bill, introduced into Russiaâ€™s lower house on Monday, is nearly identical to the 1933 criminal code, until Stalin, which made homosexuality punishable by five years of hard labour. Deputy Nikolay Kuryanovich â€˜s new legislation would revive Soviet law that would also ban gay congregations and be especially harsh with Pride organizers.
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It is unclear how far Kuryanovichâ€™s bill will get, as he doesnâ€™t have any official party backing. The bill, however, has gained support from Communist supporters and the Russian Orthodox Church.

It seems to us this bill won’t get the go ahead, but even the thought of it’s pretty scary, no? Although, we can’t say we’re surprised Kuryanovich and his pals want to see the rise of an anachronistic ideology. Seems to be a lot of that going around lately…